The Dukes of Burgundy in all their glory

It all began with Philip II of Burgundy, known as ‘the Bold’, the youngest son of King John II of France. He owed his nickname to the bravery he displayed at the age of 14 during the French defeat at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. On his return from captivity in England, his father granted him Touraine as a fief and he became the first Duke of the Valois dynasty.

On coming of age in 1363, he was appointed Duke of Burgundy before marrying Margaret III of Flanders, the wealthy heiress to the counties of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. His possession of these lands made him the most powerful of the ‘Lords of the Fleur-de-lis’.

An art lover and generous patron, in 1366 he had the fortress of Dijon rebuilt; it would become the Palace of the Dukes and the Estates of Burgundy. The building remains the city’s most prestigious monument to this day.

The eldest son of Philip the Bold, John II of Burgundy, known as ‘John the Fearless’, was a prince of the Capetian House of Valois and the cousin of King Charles VI. As Duke of Burgundy, he laid the foundations for what would become the Burgundian state. But his ambition was far greater: he wanted to become King of France!

Jealous of his rival, Louis d’Orléans—the king’s brother—Jean Sans Peur had him assassinated. This event plunged the Kingdom of France into a civil war between the Armagnacs (the faction led by Louis d’Orléans’s son) and the Burgundians (the clan of John the Fearless). In 1419, John the Fearless was killed on the bridge at Montereau by the men of Charles VII.

The only son of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria, Philip the Good formed an alliance with England against the King of France to avenge his father’s murder. He laid siege to Montereau with the help of Henry V of England and exhumed his father’s body, which he had buried in the Carthusian monastery of Champmol in Dijon, alongside his grandfather Philip the Bold. He achieved de facto independence for the Burgundian state and increased the territory’s power.

In 1450, he commissioned the construction of the main building of the ducal palace as well as the Tour de la Terrasse (now known as the Tour Philippe le Bon). The tombs of John the Fearless and Philip the Bold are housed in the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts. They are among the most magnificent funerary monuments of the late Middle Ages.

The son of Philip the Good was the fourth and last Duke of Burgundy from the Valois branch. His father knighted him into the Order of the Golden Fleece just three weeks after his birth. A cousin of King Louis XI, Charles the Bold joined the League of Public Weal, a group opposed to the King of France, even before he became head of the duchy.

When he became Duke of Burgundy, he expanded the territory by occupying the Duchy of Lorraine. But events took a turn for the worseduring the final Battle of Nancy. Charles the Bold’s body was found stiffened in the snow, half-devoured by wolves.

His only daughter, Mary, inherited the Burgundian possessions. But Louis XI invoked the Salic Law, which was still in force and stipulated that only a man could rule, in order to reclaim the States of Burgundy. The lands of the girl of whom he was the godfather reverted to the Kingdom of France, and Burgundy was dismembered.